Only a Plank Between One and Perdition
by Shiny Ryuichi Sakuma
Summary: Soujiro and Kamatari's paths cross in their quests of finding themselves and they discover a love that is infinite. SlashYaoi


Title: Plank Between One and Perdition  
  
summary: Soujiro and Kamatari's paths cross in their quests of finding themselves and they discover a love that is infinite.  
  
Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of a disclaimer! Not mine, savvy?  
  
Chibi Jack Sparrow Muse: SAVVY!!! =^o^=  
  
Other Pairings: Sano/Saitou, Kenshin/Kaoru, Aoshi/Misao, Megumi/Katsu  
  
Note: Kind of Au because Kamatari is supposed to go to an all girls school for gov't intelligence or something and Soujiro is traveling for 10 years, hoping to change because Kenshin and Shishio did the same  
  
Chapter 1  
  
A year. That was hold long Soujiro Seta had been traveling. The young man entered a small village on the outskirts of Yedo; one of the harbor cities that was influxing foreign ships at an alarming rate. It was nearing autumn again and the leaves were already turning, the winds becoming bitterly sharp and cold. The clouds were thick and oppressive.  
  
Seta opened the doors to a humble inn. The old woman behind the counter narrowed her eyes at him. Seto knew she was sizing him up, seeing if he would be a problem. He hadn't had a decent bath or change of clothes in months. A hot meal either, for that matter. His dark hair had grown longer and clipped his feminine jaw line. Those striking, amazing lapis lazuli oculates were dimmed and no where near the previous carefreeness they had been. His milky flesh had bronzed from being in the sun almost a lot. His kimono was worn and torn in different locations from wearisome travel on the road and defending himself against theives, perverts, and murderers.  
  
"Please, I will not cause any harm. I desperately need a room for the night. It's going to snow and I am ill-clothed to survive a night in the frigid temperatures."  
  
"Alright. Do you methods of paying?"  
  
"This is all I have..." Seta dropped the money onto the counter.  
  
"You go on ahead to the room. Ani will take you. A bathhouse is out back and the springs stay warm. There should be a yukata hanging in your room. Dinner is served in an hour." Yuni smiled at Seta. "There's a village doctor not too far from here. I could get him to come so those wounds can be taken care of."  
  
"No thank you. They're just abrasions. I do appreciate the offer though." Seta bowed to her modestly, following the young girl down a long corridor, just passing the dining area where several of the guests were already making themselves comfortable over idle chit-chat. A couple looked at him raised brows and the rest ignored him.  
  
The girl opened the doors for him and left him in peace. It was meekly decorated with the bare essentials; futon and wash bowl. Seta wasn't bothered. It was nice to just be inside for once and away from the elements of outside. To actually curl himself in blankets and lay his back on a futon instead of rock or grass; it was a gift to cherish.  
  
He gathered the yukata and bar of soap neatly placed in its dish next to the water basin and went further down the hall towards what he judged to be the hot springs. Seta thought about his mission. He had nine years remaining to travel Japan, train, and perhaps finally make his way to Tokyo to surprise Himura-tachi with his new perspective on life. Who knew? Maybe Himura would welcome him into his home since he most assuredly didn't have one with Hoji, Yumi, and Shishio-sama being dead. It wasn't as if he would settle down with a wife and be a farmer or homebody. Fighting had always been his way of life. It defined him just as had defined Shishio. Just as it continues to define Himura, Aoshi, and Saitou.  
  
Seta was surprised the bathouse was empty but he knew soon that some of the guests would flock inside to get prepared for dinner. He gingerly removed his clothes, wincing as the material scratched some healing wounds on his torso. He refused to even look at the numerous scars littering his body. The scars all told some story about his travels and Seta knew that there would be hundreds more by the time he finished with his journey.  
  
The water stung at the slashes and welts. It was a comforting pain that soothed him, letting him know that he was being cleansed. If only his mind could be cleansed in the exact same way. Shishio-sama had once told him that, "The past is a ghost that haunts you from the moment it exists to the moment you dont." Shishio-sama always had a way with words.  
  
Seta sighed, lathering the soap and spreading the bubbles along his arms. Shishio-sama may have done things that weren't appropriate but he was still the only person that had ever truly cared for Seta. He had been his guardian, mentor, teacher, and friend with Yumi being the ever present but much needed maternal outlet. Seta scrubbed a few of the dirtiest places extra rough. Hoji....he had never much cared for. Seta had seen him as little more than a sniveling rat that would have done anything to stay in Shishio-sama's good graces.  
  
Seta's eyes snapped up from washing his stomach at the sound of voices. Apparently he had been correct in assumptions. There were three of them; two men and a woman. The men were obviously of upper class origin-dressed in the finest of silks and there whole demeanor's carried the nobility of their stations. It was the woman that drew Seta's attention the most. Captured and embraced him in a tight but warm hold. She seemed oddly familiar but that was impossible. He knew no one outside of the Juubangata and Himura-tachi.  
  
Her hair was like woven tendrils of brown silk, shining underneath the glow of the torches and held by lethal pins. The deepest and murkiest, doeish brown eyes were staring right at him, so earnestly in fact, that Seta froze in his cleansing. The figure was tall and slender with the pale skin that accentuated her high cheekbones and pristine grace.  
  
She glanced away from Seta and regarded the two men instead. "I hope you find these springs to your approval." She smiled but Seta could see that the smile was nearly a front, a mask of inner sorrow. It was a mask that he wore but in the eyes...one could always tell the truth.  
  
One of the men laughed, placing a hand that had never seen a day's work on her shoulder. "It would meet our approval more if you would join us." Seta immediately tensed at the mocking tone and lustful gazes from both men.  
  
Her eyes flashed like cold steel, immediately darkening to an almost sable hue. "I suggest you remove your hand now."  
  
"What's a woman going to do?" He sneered at her.  
  
"She might not but I will." Seta couldn't restrain himself. What should used to be nonchalance about the welfare of others in danger had changed to a vigilance of protecting the weak. Despite the fact that only a towel was wrapped around his lean waist and that he was dripping wet and looked, as he knew, tinier than usual, the man immediately let the woman's shoulder go. Perhaps it was all the dried blood stained and chips on his blade that calmed their masculine fury at being threatened by a mere woman.  
  
The men made themselves scare at the opposite side of the bathhouse. The woman glared at him. "I could have taken care of that myself!" Seta furrowed his brows. There was something about this woman's voice that had brief wave of nostalgia whipping through him at drastic speeds. Hands, long and tailored with a few calluses on the palms, planted firmly akimbo on her narrow hips.  
  
"In case you hadn't noticed, they were both bigger than you." Seta smiled guilelessly at the irate twitching of the woman's lips wanting to break into a scowl. "You should be more careful next time. Someone might not be there to save you. Or, at least pick on someone your own size."  
  
"Like you?" the woman giggled behind her hand, eyes crinkling to slits. Seta's false grin disappeared at that expression. He'd seen that before. The woman shrugged at him. "Yuni-san told me that you did not exactly come with dining attire so she provided you a kimono for this evening."  
  
Holding his towel up lest it fall in front of the woman and she-or he-would became bashful, they walked the corridor together. Despite his wandering, he still yet had to meet someone to strike his fancy. He wasn't stupid to mating for he'd had his share of sexual encounters with Aoshi and though he was loathe to admit it, he'd had a liking for Kamatari. The man loved Shishio-sama so much that he was willing to dress as a woman and fight along side of him but Shishio-sama didn't care about Kamatari's doting.  
  
"I take it you know how to wear one?" her voice wasn't entirely sarcastic with just enough overtones of actual concern.  
  
"Yes. I know how." Seta pursed his lips as she kept standing in the doorway, regarding him intently with that fathomless gaze. "Are you going to watch me put it on?" She laughed as she had before and Seta was astonished that there wasn't an inkling of a blush staining her delicate cheeks when Seta's own were burning crimson.  
  
"I am sorry. You just remind me of someone I used to know. It's silly to reminsence on the past but..." She let her eyes wonder his nearly nude body before averting to them to the floor. "It's queer that I would start to remember now. It's been quite some time." She seemed to shake herself of the oppressive cloud floating above her head as her mood returned to a more jovial attitude. "Ani will get you when dinner is ready." Just as she was about to leave, Seta's stopped her.  
  
"What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"  
  
"Yume. May I have the favor returned?"  
  
"It's Sou," Seta lied, using the name he frequently said instead of his own. He was still an outlaw and he knew the police were still searching for him. Probably even now in the bitter cold and snow. Even with Himura being the one to rehabilitate him, nothing could stop the former Shinsengumi leader. Yume waved over her shoulder and slid the doors shut, letting Seta alone to his dressing.  
  
Kamatari, alias Yume, kicked his foot against the wall. He was such an idiot. Honestly, staring at that boy for that long. What was wrong with him? Just because he bore a resembelance to Soujiro Seta didn't mean anything. Soujiro wouldn't be in Japan. He be off somewhere in another country being hounded by beautiful women. Kamatari snorted. Why did every single man he had the misfortune of falling head over heels in love with be a womanizer? So maybe he hadn't actually seen Soujiro with a woman but it was obvious from the boy's appearance that attracted all sorts of attention.  
  
He greeted Yuni with a plastered smile and went inside the dining room, preparing the table for the rest of the guest. After leaving Kyoto he had wandered to Yedo, dressed in the guise of Yume, and had been hired by Yuni. It was an alright job and it did pay the bills on his home and put food on the table. Yedo was far enough from Kyoto and Tokyo that it would take some time before he was caught; if ever. He had changed his appearance and he was fairly certain that no one could recognize him.  
  
He had to put up with obnoxious and perverted guests but he was a trained fighter and could handle any sort of predicament he was thrust into. Which was why Sou intevening on his behalf had irked him so much. He wasn't used to someone defending him but...he had liked it. That someone had stood up for him, like a knight from his dreams.  
  
Kamatari shook his head at himself. Wasn't it sad when one preferred their dreams to life? That he was so lonely he had to resort to that? He supposed he could find a partner but there was not a soul in the world besides Kenshin and Soujiro who might understand him but Kenshin was ruled out because of his relationship with Kaoru, Soujiro was missing and presumed dead by Kenshin-whom he kept in contact with via Yahiko.  
  
Besides, all he was doing was fronting as a woman. The man who claimed to like him would have singing a different tune had they known that he was really a man. He was hiding. He knew it. He was just waiting for when he finally shattered into a million pieces that couldn't be replaced.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
oh my god. I got them both OOC. .O MERPH! I dont know, maybe not...heh heh.  
  
Please review!!!!!! :-) 


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